Book 1 Prologue, Chapter 1 Thieves
by Majorashorn
Summary: This is something I've been bouncing around in my head for years now, but only just recently tried my hand in putting it to writing. This story follows the hero throughout his journey in this land through the eyes of a somebody else. Because of this, there will probably be some changes to the original story, but most of the original stuff will remain intact.


I could not have picked a worse day to spend the night in the woods. It's not like I had any choice, since it was getting to be quite late, and I had no place else to sleep. It's a huge jungle in there, practically impossible to find your way around unless you're familiar with the area, which I wasn't, and, since it didn't look like I was going to make it out of the woods before nightfall, I decided to find someplace to sleep. I figured I may as well get a few hours rest before making my way to wherever the heck it was I was going. I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say that after all that had happened where I previously lived, I was ready for a change of scenery. I had never been fully outside of the land before, so I was quite interested in finding out what lay beyond the borders. Nevertheless, I had to choose the one place in the entire forest where a thief happened to be nearby.

To make matters worse, I should have seen this coming. After all, everybody knows that strangers to the woods, especially adults are not exactly welcome there. These beings even go so far as to attack them when they enter their line of sight. It's like these creatures have some sort of deep-seated hatred for adults, completely irrational. Of course, these beings were developed from children who got lost in these woods, so maybe it should be expected that they dislike adults. Nevertheless, this is the kind of nonsense I used to witness all the time where I used to live; discrimination against others is just despicable. Oh well, there's no use complaining about that when the most important task at hand was to get my stuff back. I might not have even bothered, except it stole most of my food, water, as well as my weapon, and all three of those items are necessary if I am to make it through these woods.

Living in the city for most of my life, I wasn't used to the outdoors, so I had quite a difficult time trying to find that creature. One of the reasons I was able to chase after it in the first place was because it wasn't very subtle when taking my things, and I ended up waking up when I saw it getting away with my stuff. It must not have noticed that I was awake either, for it didn't move all that quickly, and I was able to follow close behind without it knowing. Maybe it was used to idiots or something, I couldn't tell you. I'm no idiot that's for sure, even if it seems like it at first, I like to think I'm quite intelligent. I believe the correct word for this situation is ignorance, for I had little experience with outdoor life, and, quite frankly, I wasn't entirely sure what I would find in these woods when I entered them. It's reputation to the people I've met in the city is quite unnerving, however, so I thought I was being careful. My mistake. I suppose the only other reason why I was able to follow it without being caught was because, believe it or not, you get used to thievery when you live in a city as big as I did. I also knew that most thieves were not very smart, and relied on trickery, intimidation, and surprise to get what it wants. This thing was no exception, as it did not seem too terribly concerned about the possibilities of it being followed. All I needed was to wait for it to stop, either to rest, sleep, eat, or maybe even get distracted by another helpless victim.

Luckily, I did not have to wait long for such an opportunity to occur, for another person came into view. I had followed this thing for a while now, waiting for a good opportunity so I could get my items back. Truth be told, I was getting a little hungry and tired, for it had to have been at least a few hours since I started after it. I almost decided to just jump him right there and then, and let the consequences of my actions just happen, if only I could get something to eat. Luckily, for me and for the creature, it finally stopped. I waited for the perfect opportunity to snatch my belongings back so I could get back to my travels. What happened instead was it apparently found another victim. To my delight, it laid down my belongings in a bush so it could properly collect whatever it was that poor sap had on him then. The creature made its way closer, so I made my way as quietly as I could, collected my things, and proceeded to leave. I probably should have left right there and then too, if it wasn't for my curiosity on who it was the thing was stealing from. I can honestly say that this was the last person I expected to see here.

It was a child, probably the most famous child in the entire land, and he seemed to be traveling much with the same sort of purpose that I was, only he had a horse, the lucky guy. He must have fallen off of the horse, because he seemed to be unconscious and the thing seemed to have even less concern of time as it had with me; it was just messing around with some instrument. It's also noteworthy to point out that, apparently, the creature was not alone in its endeavors, for it had two small, winged companions with it. From their conversation, it appears that they're related, don't get along all that well, and are the instigators to the accident. They probably even scouted out the poor boy, as well as myself, and noted our locations to the creature. Well, as it turned out, he wasn't really unconscious, only stunned, where he gathered back his wits, turned his attention to the thing, and gave it a look that basically said: "what do you think you are doing?" I probably would've felt sorry for the thing considering it had no idea who it was dealing with, until it proceeded to jump onto the guy's horse and ride away. Now I knew this boy was tough, but what he did in retaliation was something I definitely did not expect, even out of him. As soon as the horse took off, the boy jumped and grabbed onto the horse's saddle, and proceeded to get dragged across the ground. I try not to think about the things that people do just because I try to mind my business and keep my nose out of other people's affairs, but what this kid did was beyond crazy. Once again curiosity, as well as genuine concern for the boy, spurred me into something that I probably should have just left alone, as I decided to chase after them.

(Note: Since I am only doing this for fun and have other things in my life I need to work on, this story will, at most, be updated once a week, maybe even longer depending on my schedule.)


End file.
